Thankful Thursday: Wooden Spoons

This week I let my daughter pick out the utensil that "we" are thankful for, so I opened up my drawer of utensils, turned my head as I held my almost two year old up to grab a utensil....and of course she chose the WOODEN SPOON




Part of me thinks she must remember back when she was about three months old and "helped" me bake haha



I am thankful for the memories I have of watching my mom bake and being able to lick the wooden spoon. Or the joy I get when I  pull the gooey melted marshmellows off when making rice krispies. And I always smile and laugh when I remember this story.....

My Aunt has always been involved with her church and the children's nursery. Well one Sunday morning she brought in a bag of cooking utensils and sat with each of the children in a circle. One by one, each child pulled out a different utensil and would say what it was used for. One child pulled out a spatula and said his daddy used it to grill burgers with. Another child pulled out a ladle and said it was used to dish soup out into a bowl. Next was my little cousins turn and she pulled out the wooden spoon.....Now -- let me explain something really quick. My Aunt is a superb baker, I mean seriously, the things that come out of her kitchen leave you begging for more. She bakes quite often and is always sharing her goodies with friends and family. So when my cousin pulled the wooden spoon, of course she would say, "My mommy uses this when she bakes me cookies...." No, not my cousin....she pulls out the wooden spoon and says, "My mommy uses this to spank me"

I believe in that moment my Aunt stopped breathing and one of the children had to pick her jaw up from the ground. My Aunt had never spanked her with a wooden spoon, nor with any other utensil for that matter. She about died when she heard those words.....and for all of use.....we die every time we hear the story!

Marriage Vows

I, Jaclyn, take thee, Jeffrey to be my lawful wedded Husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health to love, cherish and to obey till death do us part, according to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I give thee my troth.....

Is that how your marriage vows went? Or did you write your own? I know many people decide with their fiance's that they will each write their own vows only to be read for the first time to one another on their wedding day. For my husband and I, I really don't think the conversation ever even came up --- we just planned to read the vows the Pastor had for us -- traditional - "with this ring, I thee wed...."


Well, my cousin and her husband were married this year on New Year's Day at a beautiful estate in the Murrieta Valley. After her wedding she was inspired by a sign she saw in a store and asked if I would design her wedding vows similar to the sign.....Here is the photo she provided:




I absolutely loved the "inspiration sign" and was so excited to begin designing her and her husband's vows. She planned to print the artwork and have each of their vows hung in her home.

They came out perfect!

Grooms Vows: 



Brides Vows: 



If you are interested in me designing something similar for you, please let me know! I'd love to do this again :)

How-To Tuesday : Hard Boil An Egg

**I must take a moment to first tell you how ecstatic I currently am at this moment...I just woke up about 15 minutes ago to realize that I actually slept the ENTIRE night through....which means my 2 month old slept the entire night through --- waa hoo!!! (ok, maybe I should have blogged about that on "waa-hoo" wednesday, but I just had to let you all know.... we shall see how the rest of the week goes**

Alrighty, How-To Tuesday. I wanted to start off the series with something that I never realized I didn't know how to do until I moved out of my parents house. HOW TO HARD BOIL AN EGG.




I can picture my mom now, peeling the egg shells in our kitchen sink and me just waiting to dive in to a delicious egg salad sandwich, or slice a few for my salad. I guess I never actually asked her the process, just rejoiced over the final product.


Well, I began to crave egg salad sandwich and to my surprise, did not know where to start...I know crazy right? So I wanted to fill you all in so you don't find yourself in my same position.

When hard-boiling an egg, start with a large saucepan and place your desired amount of eggs at the bottom, do not layer your eggs.  Next, run water over the eggs until its about 1/2 an inch above the eggs and place the pan on the stove. Let the water and eggs come to a boil. Once boiling, remove the pan from the burner and place the pan on another section of the stove; cover with the lid. Let the eggs and water sit for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, pour eggs into a strainer and run cold water over the eggs. You can then place the eggs in the refrigerator or you can peel them right then.

To peel the egg, run cold water very low over the egg you want to peel. Tap the egg against the side of your sink or counter to crack the shell. Then remove the shell with your fingers, allowing the cold water to help get rid of some of the shell as well. The egg shell can go down the disposal, or you can throw the shell away.

Another tip for peeling eggs is to fill the pan up with water and peel each egg under the water after you have cracked it either on the counter or side of sink. Having the egg completely submerged makes for a smooth and easy peel. Plus, all of your shells are then left in the pan for an easy clean up.


Do you have any tips on how to peel a hard boiled egg?

Iced Tea Latte...

About a month or so ago my great friend told me about this wonderful drink she's been ordering from The Coffee Bean. Ok -- wait...she had been raving about it for weeks prior to this on facebook so I had to ask her about the drink. When she came to visit we of course stopped at The Coffee Bean to try the Blueberry Pomegranate Tea Latte, but since it was about 108 degrees outside we decided to order it iced instead of hot like she normally has it. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding of how we ordered it...they should have just *known* what we wanted...hahah. so we ordered it wrong and only had plain pomegranate iced tea. (not the latte part).

About a week later, I ventured over myself along with the kids and ordered it again, but made sure to order it as a *latte* this time. It came at a bit of a shock to me when the woman at the registered told me it was going to be nearly $5. Of course I paid the lady and waited anxiously to try this so-called *unbelievably delicious* new drink. And boy was my friend right....it was sooooo goood!

Luckily for my pocketbook, the nearest Coffee Bean is way out of my way AND they don't have a drive thru so its not really convenient for me to lug the kids out of the car and go spend money I don't have just to indulge a bit in this liquid goodness. Well, about a week ago I started walking at the mall in the morning to get a bit of exercise in during these blazing hot summer months....and well, The Coffee Bean is right down the street....so every morning, I've been getting this craving, but continue to remind myself that its not convenient nor affordable, plus wouldn't be worth it after working off those calories, to just add them right back on. So last night I went online to The Coffee Bean website to see if I could just make the drink myself...They had a recipe page that listed their tea latte and the special ingredient  in the latte is a vanilla powder! That's IT!!! Of course you can order it online through their store, but once again....too much mula for me.

I made my way to Trader Joe's and purchased some pomegranate tea bags for $4.00. Then headed over to our local grocery store and purchased some French Vanilla Powdered Creamer from the coffee and tea section in the store. Another $4.00. So at 8 bucks, I was sitting pretty happy and came home to create my drink. I brewed some tea, mixed in about a tablespoon of the creamer to about 2 cups of tea, then poured it over ice and vwa-la! Pomegranate Iced Tea Latte!!!! Right in my very own home. So yummy. And the best part, if I want to have it warm, all I need to do is add milk instead of the ice. I am so unbelievably stoked about my new creation...and so is my hubby! lol.

I'm looking forward to trying other flavors too...next on the list...Ginger Pear. Yum!

Thankful for...

Thankful Thursday.....my very first one.

When I originally came up with the idea to blog about my favorite utensils I knew exactly which utensil I would blog about first. It is not one that I use often, but it does bring me much joy....and even laughter when I use it. I'm sure you're thinking I'm crazy already....but stick with me....



Melon baller....

Can you say that out loud with me? Melon Baller --- Melon Baller .....

Come on, if you didn't smile when saying that something must be wrong. Haha. Or maybe it's me that there's something wrong with. Anyways, my melon baller I am thankful for because of all the fun I have displaying food with it. I have used it for fruit, for sorbet, for vanilla ice cream and each time my dishes come out looking stunning.



A melon baller, once called a Parisienne scoop, is a small spoon-like utensil used to cut round or oval-shaped sections of a melon.

Shown above I used my melon baller on a raspberry sorbet that I then drizzled in a homemade chocolate sauce that my mom had made. It was so delicious.

For a bridal shower I once hosted I made a dense Elvis Presley Pound Cake and cut small cubes out of it. I then balled vanilla ice cream with my melon baller. I arranged the pound cake, ice cream and fresh berries in short champagne glasses that were drizzled in chocolate. They looked and tasty amazing.

Have a little fun and experiment with your melon baller....and as it does for me, I hope you smile each time you think of it.

Woo Hoo Taco Bar

I knew I wouldn't be able to wait until next week to blog about my first topic. I'm just so excited. So! For my very first WOO-HOO Wednesday I must first start with a little back story.

I've been bouncing ideas off a colleague of mine about my blog and different topics I could talk about. How-To Tuesdays and Thankful Thursdays seemed like a no-brainer, but for some reason we were both stuck on a clever name for Wednesdays! Emails flew back and forth with ideas --- Wonderful Wednesdays, Whimsical Wednesdays, Wednesday's What Not's -- Until WOO HOO Wednesdays came across in my inbox. I about died laughing when I read this....and here is why....

When I was in high school, probably before the time I was driving my dad and I were driving home from the beach area when I saw a taco shop called Woo Hoo Fish Tacos. I am always and have always read out loud restaurant signs of places I think look yummy so of course I read off this title -- knowing my dad loves fish tacos. In response to me calling out the restaurants name, my dad begins to repeat the name and to both our surprise he CAN NOT - FOR THE LIFE OF HIM pronounce Woo Hoo! His voice would begin to crackle when he got to the high point of "hoo"....it was so hilarious!! I honestly could not believe what I was hearing -- or actually what I wasn't hearing!! Of course I was not going to keep this between just the two of us, so when we got home I told my mom and brother to ask dad to say "woo-hoo"; at this point we are all laughing at the fact that he really cannot get the words out.

To this day, we still joke about it....and still....like a trooper....he TRIES to say "Woo-Hoo" and his only victory is making us laugh! Thanks Dad!

So of course when I saw Woo Hoo Wednesday I knew the name had to stick!

This post is for you dad! Woo Hoo Taco Night!



*Photo by: Troeger Photography

We absolutely love taco's in this house. They are so delicious and come in so many different varieties.

Tacos are an excellent choice when you're having guests over too, especially if you don't know everyone's likes and dislikes. By having a TACO BAR everyone can make their own plate exactly to their preference. We always fry corn tortillas to make our shells, but feel free to pick up some hard tacos or just use soft flour and corn tortillas if you're having guests over. Ground beef or chicken are great for starters. If you want, toss a few boneless skinless chicken breasts in your crock pot 4-5 hours before your party and pour a jar of salsa over top. You will have delicious shredded chicken, perfect for your tacos.

Next, arrange your taco bar with shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, salsa, guacamole, refried beans and rice.

OK - so this post quickly turned into a cooking and recipe post, I guess I just can't help myself sometimes.

Some clever ideas for your taco bar would be to



Pick up a sombrero from one of your local party stores. They should be less than $5. When you set up your taco bar, place some tupperware or short boxes in the center of your table to use as lifts and then place your tablecloth over top. Next, lay your sombrero on the lifts and  place your taco toppings all around on the table (not on the lifts). Fill the brim of your sombrero with tortilla chips. It's as simple as that, for as little as $5 you can take a plain old taco dinner and turn it in to a Fun Fiesta!

(for future posts I plan to have pictures of my ideas, but I got so excited to start blogging I didn't have a chance)

Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday Wrap Up!

The excitement of my book is increasing and I just got word that my first batch of copies will be here at the end of the week. As I begin to organize my goals and marketing strategy a whole flood of emotions starts storming in - excitement, nervousness, anxiety, thankfulness...oh the list goes on...

First step is vamping up my blog and hopefully driving in more readers...LIKE YOU :) --- hopefully I'm talking to someone haha.

I'm going to start a few weekly topics and I am so excited to do so.

Starting off we will have -

Here I will go over different "How-To's" like I described in my cookbook. This section will be great for those new in the kitchen...but if you're a veteran still stop by...who knows.. you might learn a new trick!

After our How-to's on Wednesday we will have...

Woo-Hoo!!! Half way through the week! Woo-Hoo!! Time to start planning for the weekend! On Wednesdays I will post about party ideas, decorating ideas and who knows what other fun things I can come up with. Party ideas are also another feature that my cookbook has to offer!

Moving on to the end of our week, on Thursdays we will have...

You may have read other blogs with Thankful Thursday, where the author writes about something that week that they were thankful for.....the extra dollar they found in their pocket, the nice card they received from a friend.... in my Thankful Thursday I will be writing about the kitchen utensils, appliances and ingredients that I am thankful for...plus go over all their many uses.

And finally, over the weekend we will have the

The Weekend Wrap will be similar to my blog that you are use to reading -- about meals Ive made or restaurants Ive been to. I hope you've been enjoying this section, because it's one of my favorites. I will also be including a few recipes in The Weekend Wrap as well, so stop by on your day off.

I am so antsy to get started blogging about my new topics...I had originally planned on getting started next week, but I might just start tonight!!!!

Feel free to comment below if you have any special requests to fill my 

How-To Tuesday's or Thankful Thursdays!!!

Thank you again for all of your support and for following my blog!

www.a-sugarnspice-life.com